I thought Shag had been discussed before, here....
My thinking was that Shag was so involved in sports for years after his playing days, that it created a demand for his card that got the card out of the hands of normal collectors and more into the mainstream public. Once that happens, it becomes more likely that the cards disappear. Ted Z does a good job of describing Shag's sports involvement.
It would be like the cards of football player Michael Oher, who's story is portrayed in The Blind Side. Some folks will buy that card and it will be their only football card. Some will give it to a kid they took to the movie. 50 years from now the Oher cards that were in collections will probably still be there, with the other cards. But the Oher cards that went into the hands of the mainstream public, those cards will get lost in a junk drawer, stuffed in a box, or one day thrown into the trash.
So I think that in the 20s, 30s, and 40s some folks wanted a Shag card who weren't interested in any of the other Southern Leagers.... and some of those cards have gone missing.
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